Bandidos Under Pressure

For most of the last 52 years the Bandidos Motorcycle Club has defended its right to remain silent with outsiders. All clubs have a rule that prohibits members from talking to reporters but the Bandidos have probably been more stubborn about it than most other clubs. “Because it’s nobody’s business,” Bandidos National President Bill “Big Deal” Sartelle explained.

All of that may be about to change. In an America inundated with post-truths and fake news, the notion that outlaw motorcycle clubs should remain silent to the outside world may now be as obsolete as newspapers that are actually printed on paper. In the modern world, remaining silent means allowing your enemies to define you.

Sartelle is a wiry 62-year-old with a long enough stride that he is usually a little ahead of you. From behind, his long, braided hair hangs almost to his Bandidos belt. The braid sways slightly as he strides to a table, in the corner of a deck, in a burger joint in Galveston called The Spot. The sky is cloudless but the Galveston Island Pleasure Pier a half mile up the beach blues and blurs in the humid air. The Gulf seems flat but the waves crash into the beach in sets of eight every four minutes or so, so there has to be a storm out there somewhere hiding behind the horizon.

Sartelle has his back to the beach but he can feel the unseen tempest – not just this one afternoon but night and day. It has probably become harder to hold a big club like the Bandidos together than to run a big business. Sartelle chops his words into bites while we eat. He doesn’t trust reporters. He doesn’t trust the FBI. No one can blame him. He and his club are beset by would-be friends and would-be foes alike. He doesn’t trust me. I don’t blame him. Some of his sound bites disappear into the growl of motorcycles cruising up and down Seawall Boulevard. I keep my notebook closed. “Times have changed,” Sartelle allows. “Maybe it’s time we did.”

I open up the little, white, four by eight inch pad of paper and start to scribble. Sartelle dodges a wet, white bomb from a gull. We work on just what he wants the world to know. He doesn’t want to be misquoted. He doesn’t want to be second guessed. He and the club he leads are under pressure. He is not sure where trouble will come from next. Finally he decides, “We spent 50 years with our head in the sand. We stayed in the dark, looking like we did something wrong and we didn’t. It didn’t get us anywhere. I push transparency. Put everything on the table.”

“Can I quote you on that?”

“Sure.”

“Anything else?”

“The Bandidos are strong and proud. We are not going anywhere.”

“Okay.” Then I close the notebook again.

Waco

The Bandidos storm began a year and a half ago at another burger joint in Waco. The murderous brawl between members of the Cossacks Motorcycle Club and what seemed like every other motorcycle club in Central Texas was followed by a million lies, then a long silence and then millions more words of speculation – mostly by people who have never sat on let alone ridden a motorcycle. What happened at the Waco Twin Peaks was sensational. Reporters on deadline – working for papers from the Los Angeles Times to Paris Match – had quotes to gather. While the Bandits kept their mouths shut the Cossacks chattered like excited children. The result of that may never go away. The Bandidos were stained. The end of Waco was to stain the Bandidos. Just this week a newspaper called the Journal-Courier in Jacksonville, Illinois quoted a local citizen at a toy run as saying. “After the Waco, Texas, shooting between two bike clubs, we thought it was important to spread the message that not all bike clubs are bad.”

The day after the Twin Peaks brawl a Cossack named Scott “Scoot” Keon was widely quoted as saying that the Bandidos, using the Texas Confederation of Clubs and Independents as a front, were trying to extort money from the Cossacks. “We won’t be pressured into paying them dues,” Keon claimed, “and that’s where their anger is coming from. Just because other clubs have given in, doesn’t mean we are going to.” The Bandidos know that most of the world thinks the Texas Confederation is the way their club tries to extort money from innocents like the Cossacks. So the Bandidos have quietly dropped out of the bikers rights group. “Fine” a Bandido says. “We don’t need it.”

He is right. The Confederation needed the Bandits. When I tell a particularly well informed, Los Angeles lawyer that the big club in Texas has dropped out he immediately says, “Then the government may have already won. The confederation of clubs is one of the most effective tools motorcycle clubs can use to fight against the government.” If the Waco brawl was contrived, as everybody who knows anything about the motorcycle club world thinks it was, by agents provocateur whispering in the ears of the Cossacks leaders, the whole point may simply have been to discredit the Texas Confederation.

Two weeks after Waco Steve Cook, the Executive Director of the Midwest Outlaw Motorcycle Gang Investigators Association, an organization that tells cops what to think about motorcycle clubs, told a reporter “We do a considerable amount of talking about these confederations and coalitions and try to make them (the police who pay public funds to hear his opinions) understand a little bit the motives behind these are other than what they advertise.”

Weaponizing Information

Slowly, it has dawned on the Bandidos that information can be weaponized into propaganda – which is the use of specific information and misinformation to achieve a specific purpose. Somebody in the Department of Justice, the branch of government that specializes in arranging slivers of fact into houses of cards, wants the Bandidos for Christmas. If not this Christmas, maybe next year.

Within a week of the brawl, The Washington Post ran a sloppy, sensationalized and factually inaccurate account that portrayed the Cossacks as victims of the Bandidos and claimed the bloodshed was initiated by the Bandidos because the Cossacks had refused to pay the bigger club “$100 a month per chapter” for the right to wear a Texas bottom rocker on their vests.

The Houston Chronicle, relying on a Cossack account, claimed the Cossacks “had come (to the Twin Peaks) for a special sit-down with the Bandidos to hash out an ongoing dispute. Before their meal arrived, (a Cossack named) Diesel was shot, execution-style, with two bullets to the back of his head.”

The Bandidos replied with street wisdom and hillbilly omerta. And, into that silent void dozens of ill informed authorities leapt into the international spotlight with their own versions of “the truth.” One of them was Las Vegas attorney Stephen Stubbs who seems to have appointed himself “the Bandidos lawyer.” The club, according to Sartelle, now employs “37 lawyers.” The official club council is an attorney in Jasper, Texas. None of those lawyers is named Stephen Stubbs.

Despite his apparent lack of standing, Stubbs sent out a press release on behalf of the Bandidos five weeks after the brawl. The release still appears on the club’s official website. The document began:

“The Bandidos Motorcycle Club (hereafter ‘Bandidos’) is saddened by the incident that took place at the Twin Peaks Restaurant in Waco, Texas on May 17, 2015,” Stubbs announced. “The violence was senseless, completely unnecessary and wrong.”

There wasn’t any actual news or information in the release. Since he isn’t actually working for the Bandidos, casting himself as club spokesman may have done more to enhance Stubbs’ reputation than the Bandits’. Subsequently Stubbs was identified as “the Bandidos’ lawyer” in publications as disparate as the Waco Tribune-Herald and the New York Daily News. Wichita television station KSN described Stubbs as an “attorney and former Bandido.” Stubbs was later nationally recognized as the Mongols Motorcycle Club’s lawyer after a prison guard and member of the Iron Order Motorcycle Club named Derrick “Kong” Duran killed a Mongol named Victor “Nubs” Mendoza and seriously wounded another Mongol named Jared “Hercules” Chadwick.

RICO

A year ago, a federal grand jury in San Antonio indicted three members of the Bandidos National Chapter: Club President Jeffrey Pike, Vice-president John Portillo and Sergeant At Arms Justin Forster.

The surplusage filled indictment began:

“The Bandidos Outlaw Motorcycle Organization (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Bandidos OMO’) was an ‘outlaw’ motorcycle organization comprised of individual chapters located in various cities in Texas and elsewhere. The Bandidos OMO identifies itself as an outlaw motorcycle organization through the public display of the ‘1%’ symbol. The 1% symbol signifies that the membership of this organization has chosen to be part of the very small fraction of motorcycle riders who defy legal conventionality and consider themselves ‘outlaws’ or lawbreakers. The Bandidos OMO membership refers to themselves as a 1% club. The Bandidos OMO is an international organization. The Bandidos OMO has approximately 175 or more chapters in fifteen countries on four continents, with approximately 107 chapters in the United States, including approximately 42 chapters in Texas. The Bandidos OMO membership is estimated at between 1,500 and 2,000 members.”

Factually, the Bandidos in the United States are now “totally divorced from Europe.” Bandidos in, say, France, are part of a separate and distinct club from Bandidos in the States, as America is separate and distinct from England.

“The Bandidos OMO in the United States” the indictment continues, “is a highly organized criminal organization which adheres to a hierarchical chain of command both nationally and locally. National officers are the most powerful and influential members of the enterprise. National officers comprise the National Chapter and include the President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, Sergeant at Arms and other regional members.”

The indictment and its accompanying press release were propaganda for prosecutors who had long sought to destroy the Bandidos – not for what the club was or had done but for what outsiders assumed the Bandidos was or must have done. The world’s press took the bait.

War, Murder, Extortion

The Guardian titled its report “Bandidos biker gang leaders accused of waging ‘war’ on rival Cossacks.” The Guardian said this despite seemingly irrefutable videographic, photographic and written proof that members of the Cossacks ambushed a small group of Dallas area Bandidos before most of them had time to stop their engines.

The British paper reported, “The indictment, announced on Wednesday by the U.S. Attorney’s office in San Antonio, accuses national Bandidos leaders of running an organization that used ‘murder, attempted murder, assault, intimidation, extortion and drug trafficking” to protect the organization’s power.’”

Numerous papers reported that the club officers were indicted as a result of their “deadly turf war with rival Cossacks.”

Last October, after ten months in jail, Forster pled guilty to four counts of “conspiracy:” Conspiracy to violate the Racketeering Influenced Corrupt Organization (RICO) statute; conspiracy to commit violent crimes in aid of racketeering (VICAR); conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute more than 500 grams of methamphetamine and cocaine; and, conspiracy to interfere with commerce by extortion.” His plea deal is sealed no one knows to which crimes, if any, he actually confessed. A member of the Bandidos National Chapter said, “We haven’t seen the deal so we don’t know what Justin confessed to.”

But another Bandido is blunt about the current state of his club. “No drugs. We will kick you out if you sell drugs. All this shit starts with some guy selling drugs.”

A month ago in Denver, three club members were sentenced to state prison for conspiring to sell methamphetamine. The Colorado and federal cases are connected and sometimes overlap. In the federal indictment, Forster was charged with selling about 185 grams of methamphetamine spread out over a half dozen transactions. The federal indictment also alleges: “During 2014, Colorado Bandidos OMO members delivered shipments of crystal methamphetamine to San Antonio-area Bandidos OMO members. On or about November 2, 2014, in the District of Colorado, the Bandidos OMO Colorado Westside Denver Chapter President possessed approximately two pounds of crystal methamphetamine with the intent to deliver the methamphetamine to San Antonio-area Bandidos OMO members.” The chapter president alluded to in the federal indictment was Lorenzo Sojo, one of the three Bandidos sentenced in Denver in November. Sojo was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Michael “Tick” Menson was also convicted of participating in the scheme and was sentenced to 24 years. A third Bandido named Philip “Fee” Duran, who also served as a national officer, cut off his electronic monitoring bracelet and is now in the wind, to the great distress of Sartelle and other Bandidos. Influential club members thinks Duran’s flight makes the club “look bad.”

The federal indictment seemed to cement the Bandidos reputation as this year’s “Most Violent Outlaw Motorcycle Gang.” The Houston Chronicle, which should have known better, described the Bandidos as, “a Mafia-like gang whose members roam the state on Harley-Davidsons and shed the blood of those who cross them.”

Reality is less melodramatic. In 1967, Hunter Thompson told the New York Times that what everyone said about motorcycle outlaws was “to a large extent untrue,” that the lies were believed because America had a “need for mythic villains,” and that the lives of most outlaws were “pathetically mundane.” Those aren’t among Thompson’s best remembered words but they sprang to mind one night in Texas’ second largest city.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t eat with you last night,” a member of the dreaded Bandidos National Chapter apologized to me in the dreaded Bandidos new Houston clubhouse. “My son had a cub scout meeting.”

Territory

Sartelle is convinced that both Portillo and Pike will be eventually cleared. Pike is free on bond while he awaits trtial. Portillo is still locked up because he had a prior felony conviction: A 2009 search of his home found drug residue amounting to less than one gram in a plastic bag. Sartelle thinks Portillo may have been targeted because, “The cops think he doesn’t like them. That’s why.”

“They’re both innocent,” Sartelle says. “If you met them you would know they’re innocent.”

The propaganda campaign against the Bandidos is almost identical to the propaganda used to demonize all motorcycle clubs in the last decade. Motorcycle clubs have always had areas of operation, or as prosecutors like to say, “territories.” The Bandidos indictment runneth over with references to territory,

“The Bandidos OMO claim (sic) Texas as their (sic) territory. In the state of Texas, the Bandidos OMO has ordered that no other motorcycle rider display on his clothing a ‘Texas’ bottom rocker without permission. Any person who wears the ‘Texas’ bottom rocker without permission is subject to assault or murder by the Bandidos OMO membership.” The statement is factually wrong but it gives prosecutors a hook on which to hang their accusations.

“The objectives and purposes of the Bandidos OMO enterprise included… preserving, protecting and enhancing the power, territory, reputation and profits of the enterprise through the use of intimidation, violence, threats of violence, assault, murder, attempted murder and robbery.”

“Members of the enterprise and their associates committed, conspired to commit, and threatened to commit acts of violence, including murder, attempted murder, assault, intimidation and extortion to protect the enterprise’s power, territory and property.”

Portillo is accused of “directing, sanctioning, approving and permitting other members to engage in criminal activities including murder and assault related to the protection of the power and territory of the enterprise.” For example, specifically, the indictment alleges that on July 22, 2015, two months after Waco, Portillo learned that a Cossack “had moved into Bandidos OMO territory in Buda, Texas.” One of the accusations against Portillo is that he then remarked, “Look, I don’t want that guy up here in Buda no more than anybody else does. I just don’t think we can pull it off without getting caught.”

Four months later, the indictment alleges, “John Portillo traveled to Las Vegas, Nevada to conduct a sit-down meeting with the National President of the Vagos Outlaw Motorcycle Organization. On or about November 3-7, 2015, Bandidos OMO members from Texas and New Mexico traveled to Las Vegas, Nevada with John Portillo to serve as protection for John Portillo. Some of the Bandidos OMO members traveled with firearms.” Perhaps next, the indictment suggests, the strange and terrible biker gangs will open their own casinos.

The issue of whether a big club like the Bandits can legally assert its preeminence over other motorcycle clubs in a specific, geographic territory is at the heart of the current, unofficial war against not just the Bandidos but all motorcycle clubs.

Cossacks

After the fight at the Twin Peaks in Waco the Cossacks portrayed themselves and were widely portrayed as victims of the Bandidos territoriality. They were peace loving and law abiding motorcycle enthusiasts who became targets of the big bad Bandidos simply because they wanted to exercise their Constitutional rights – to hang a Texas rocker and some lightening bolts on their vests and ride free. That song and dance was easy for professional story tellers and their audiences to grasp.

The Cossacks, or policemen or shut ins pretending to be Cossacks are still around and their identity seems to be schizophrenic. On the one hand they embrace their victimization by the Bandidos. On the other hand they seem to want to be a new and nastier version of the Bandits. On their website the Cossacks vow to “remember the Waco seven” and “never forgive, never forget.”

The Cossacks webmaster, or perhaps it is someone mentoring the Cossacks, has also discovered that information can be weaponized. The Cossacks now proclaim themselves be one percenters.

In a tweaky, rambling tirade on their front page the Cossacks boast: “Like many groups prideful of their accomplishments, the Cossacks before May 17, 2015, boasted about Strength, Brotherhood and Willingness to stand firm on their beliefs. It isn’t until you are tested that you demonstrate how committed to the fundamentals you/we truly are. When you are faced with adversity and an uncertain future, the true Brothers continue to carry on, adamantly unwavering on what defines us as men and as members of Cossacks Motorcycle Club, Those that remain behind are mere shells of men, forgotten by time and looked at with disgust as they dilute the MC culture. To separate real MC members from those who only continue to stand on false promises, sometimes drastic measures need to be made to correct the MC sins of the past. The members that truly embrace our culture and the history of our beginnings emerge from the plagiarism of the morally inept to form a new beginning that have no tolerance for disrespect of the MC lifestyle.”

They also have their own YouTube channel.

And I know what you’re thinking. “Wow! Where can I sign up to become a Cossack!?”

Iron Order

The Cossacks were not the first pop up motorcycle club to portray itself as a band of plucky, little victims. That would be the Iron Order.

The Iron Order started as a few cops who wanted to transform themselves into 1960s style outlaws – only without the risk. The Iron Order’s longtime President was a career marketing executive named Ray “Izod” Lubesky. Lubesky Lubesky had previously worked on behalf of Cinnabon, Ponderosa Steakhouses and Papa John’s Pizza. He borrowed his outlaw road name from an upscale brand of casual clothing. And he worked tirelessly to portray his club as both the “real deal” and as self righteous vigilantes.

About a decade ago, in a dissertation about the “organizational identity” of outlaw motorcycle clubs, the anthropologist William Dulaney wrote: “All three-piece patch clubs encountered during my research were outlaw motorcycle clubs. If a motorcycle club were to adopt the three-piece configuration and not adhere to the outlaw ethic, that club would very quickly cease to exist; motorcycle club etiquette dictates that another dominant club (or clubs) in the area would see to the disbanding of the offending motorcycle club.”

The Iron Order set out to prove Dulaney wrong. The Iron Order has consistently sought to contest the idea that some clubs – like the Hells Angels, Mongols, Bandidos, Outlaws and Pagans, for example – are more dominant than others. The Iron Order has actually provoked fights with other motorcycle clubs so Iron Order members can kill members of other clubs. That’s what Iron Order member Derrick “Kong” Duran did when he shot two Mongols.

Not only do real outlaws not talk to reporters, they never talk to police. The Iron Order, and after them the Cossacks,, talk to both the press and the police so the only side the public and the police hear is the Iron Order’s account. The Iron Order is heavily populated with peace officers, one of its founders was a secret service agent, the Iron Order has said publically that some of its members are ATF agents and it seems to exist mostly to try to entice other motorcycle clubs into attacking it – as Dulaney suggests dominant motorcycle clubs, in the closed counterculture of the motorcycle club world, are morally obliged to do.

In the year leading up to the Twin Peaks brawl, the Cossacks seemed to act just like the Iron Order. They invited rather than avoided confrontations with the Bandidos. They cooperated with police in the prosecution of Bandidos. They enthusiastically portrayed themselves in the press as victims of the Bandidos. Coincidentally, or not, they made the Cossacks publicly made the same arguments against the Bandidos that the Department of Justice has made.

Kinfolk

“We just don’t know who’s going to come after us next,” a Bandido tells me. It is easy to empathize with his disquiet.

This year’s anti-Bandido pop up club is called the Kinfolk. The Kinfolk Motorcycle Club was started by a former Bandidos national officer named Dan “Chopper Dan” Schild.

Sartelle, a long time member of the National chapter became club president after Pike’s arrest at Pike’s request. Schild thought Pike should have chosen him so he left the Bandidos and started the Kinfolk. The new club already sounds a lot like the Cossacks in the weeks after Waco.

“Good morning El Paso Biker community,” the club announced recently in a kind of press release that is remarkable for its enthusiastic reliance on exclamation marks. “We are Kinfolk MC. Would like to start off this morning by telling you guys we are here and not going anywhere! We are Americans and we have rights just like you guys and freedom of speech! This club is not here to start “Trouble or be Bullies!” We are here to stand up for out rights! The reason for this is that we’re tired of taking orders being bullied by the Bandidos.”

A set of minutes from the Kinfolk’s national meeting in Colorado on October 15 indicates that it is not a traditional motorcycle club. It is particularly not the Bandidos Motorcycle Club.

“We are not like Bandidos. We are out own club and will not be run like a Dictatorship.”

“We do not discriminate against former police officers.”

“While we prefer American V-Twins the type of motorcycle is not important.”

“If a member has his membership revoked, he will not be placed on no contact. There will be no out in bad standing. Either you are a member or not.”

“Our prospective members will be called rookies, not prospects. Ingrain this in your brain.”

“The order of receiving their patches will be as follows for rookies. Bottom rocker two months. Center patch four months. Top rocker and 1%er diamond after six months.”

“You do not have to fly your patch if you feel you are in an uncomfortable area or it interferes with your job or position.”

“We will be selling a support patch that simply says ‘Kin.’”

“We had a meeting with the Mongols and Sons of Silence. We were well received and received their blessing even though they wanted no more 1% clubs in Colorado. They said that knowing who was involved in the leadership and the way we went about our business that they were impressed.”

The Bandidos see the Kinfolk as a tethered goat that exists to try to provoke members of the club into a confrontation somewhere sometime.

The two clubs tell disparate stories about how the Kinfolk came to be. According to the Bandidos, Schild was questioned by the FBI for four hours on the day Pike, Portillo and Forster were arrested. He was unaccompanied by an attorney or another Bandido and other Bandidos did not learn of his interview for a week.

Dennis “Buddha” Price, is another ex-Bandido who was eager to talk about Schild’s new club. Price was never a member of the National Chapter but he claims to know what happened. “The feds called him (Schild)” Price said. “They talk to national bosses all the time. It’s not unusual.”

Price claims the Bandidos have expelled “300 plus guys, maybe 350” since Sartelle became President. Sartelle says eight members have been kicked out of the club in the last year. Price says, “Sartelle is a mean, old man.”

Price says the Kinfolk now have about 170 members in 23 chapters in Louisiana, Texas and New Mexico and that the club is comprised of “predominantly ex-Bandidos” and “members of other clubs who been kicked out. Everybody who comes gets a real, fair, genuine, second chance.”

Meanwhile, according to Price, the Bandidos are “evolving into a completely different group.”

“The Bandidos have become a paper tiger,” Price said. “Look at the Waco thing. Years ago there would have been a bunch of quiet little murders in the middle of the night.”

Nevertheless, despite their ongoing evolution, Price thinks, the federal indictment will be the end for the biggest club in Texas. “The feds are going to go crazy with this. With all the stuff the Bandidos are doing. We’re expecting the feds to come in and arrest a shitload of them. It wouldn’t surprise me to read the paper and see that 200 Bandidos were arrested.” Price doesn’t say for what.

So to summarize, a pop-up, self-described one percenter motorcycle club with a claimed 170 members in three states comprised mostly of out bad members from other clubs and Sons of Anarchy fans is propagandizing that it is tired of “being bullied by the Bandidos.” And , also sometimes they don’t wear their patch. Sometimes they ride Jap bikes. Some of them are ex-cops. Also, they think there should be more “quiet murders.” What can go wrong?

Under Pressure

Sartelle and the Bandidos who have lived through Waco and its aftermath and the RICO indictment don’t know where the next storm will come from. All the bad publicity may have helped them recruit new Bandidos. Three club members take the time to tell me that the club patched in an unusually large number of prospects this year.

What the members in Houston seem to most want me to know so you will know is that the club is fine, the members are fine, the club’s many lawyers are fine and the club is more law abiding than ever. “The first thing we ask you is do you have a job,” Sartelle says. “You can’t join this club unless you have a legal source of income.”

Another National Chapter member picks up the theme. “We’re just regular guys,” and then he lists the jobs of most of the people in the room. One guy repossesses cars. Another guy is a draftsman. Another guy is also a member of the Rotary. Sartelle worked in a chemical plant for more than 25 years. “We just want to be left alone. I look around, and there is only one felon in this room. Leave us alone.”

“I mean, why us,” another guys asks.

I give him the best answer I can off the top of my head, although it isn’t much of an answer. “Because the feds think you’re easy.”

Days later I think of something that might be closer to the truth. Obviously, the Department of Justice and its various police forces have been after the Bandidos for a long time without much success. The Bandits are simply either too innocent or too cagey to get caught with their hands in the cookie jar. The government has charged a couple of guys here and a couple of guys there. Sartelle is right. The government probably doesn’t have much, if anything on Pike and Portillo.

But in court filings and press releases the government admits it has been trying to catch the Bandidos at something for the last three years. Until the last superseding indictment is unsealed it will be impossible to estimate how much this investigation of the Bandidos has cost. It has cost at least millions. It has probably cost tens of millions. Eventually, as with the Mongols investigation that started in 2006, the bill might run to nine figures.

And the longer the investigation of the Bandidos remains fruitless, the higher the pressure will become on whoever dreamed up this escapade. Somewhere in Washington, D.C., or San Antonio or maybe even Glendale, California some public employee must deal with the inescapable pressure of running a project that seems to have failed. Everyday he has to lie to his bosses. “We’re close, boss. We’re this close. We almost have these guys. Have you heard anything back about that Predator I want to requisition?”

Every day this nameless, faceless policeman goes home and drinks. Every day the pressure he feels grows. And everyday he goes to work he tries to make sure the Bandidos feel at least as much pressure as he does.

78 Responses to “Bandidos Under Pressure”

@ Thorn,
there is darn sure some merit to that arguement. If one Nomad and a national officer got put out bad I may think someone fucked up. But to attain either position generally you are not an asshole and think before you act how does this benefit or hurt my club in my humble experience.
Respects,
BC

As usual, “Journalism” that is one sided and only conveys what the “interviewed” wants to convey. How about finding of fact and reporting on others’ views of what their story is?

As the old saying is there is two sides to every story – and maybe even more in this case. Let us hear from the other clubs their views on this “STORY.”

Come on, the Bandidos a bunch of Eagle Scouts – Really – you want everyone to believe that? How come they have lost so many members? How come there is not a report of the real story?

How come you don’t report on real news – That Texas is now the last state to fall as the only 1%ER State in the US!!! Nice Job Bandidos – you ruined that too didn’t you?

While everyone is focusing on (albeit I don’t like them either) – the FEDS, how come there was a COC in WACO? There never has before. How Come it was chosen in the middle of a combat zone that the Bandidos created in the months proceeding? How come the key speaker never made his meeting with his entourage when he has made every single one before? Who called the meeting? Who chose the location? Could it be the same person(S) that reaped all the benefits from the Confederation of clubs collection baskets? Sure the Bandidos say they have nothing to do with the coc, but certain members do don’t they? I mean Gimmi Gimmi isn’t that what its all about?

Some rumors say that the whole Waco mess was due to a territorial dispute and the Cossacks deciding to wear a Texas Bottom Patch on their Vest. Well, did anyone bother asking the Cossacks how long they had that patch preceding the confrontation at WACO? No. Did anyone ask the Cossacks how they came about the decision to sew it on? No.

I bet if you start asking the right questions, you will get the truth in the matter. Maybe thats why the bandits are losing men, could they know the truth? They have been notorious in that in the past to oust those that know too much. Doesn’t the past repeat itself?

I also find it difficult to believe that any man that was a National Officer or Ranking officer of any club for as long as their National Secretary to be “upset” that he didn’t get the bosses job and go and then go start a new one. How did Mr. Sartelle get the reigns of the Red and Gold Machine? Did he have a vote like Ronnie Hodge did when Don Chambers could no longer run the club?

To me it sounds like there was an act of mutiny among the “ranks” in that “club” and from what I see, a lot of good men that always stood out as righteous men are no longer in that “club.” Well Goodtimes for them, and dumb move on the Bandidos part. I wouldn’t want that many enemies to be worried about, no wonder they have their heads on a swivel. There wouldn’t be anything to worry about “to keep their heads on a swivel” if those men were really put out of the club for acts of snitching, thievery and other selfish acts. Those are not men that you would need to worry about “to keep your head on a swivel.” There is an old saying, that if you didn’t do anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about. Now why would the Bandidos need to be so concerned about all of those clubs, and all of those other men? Especially if they as this “story” is told, left because of power, and other selfish acts, etc. Or is vengeance what Mr. Sartelle and others in his ranks are now concerned with?!?!?!

I mean its hard to comprehend why 100’s of men would be put out of a club especially National Officers, Nomads, and other men that have been around for so long.

Quote: “Accuse the other side for that which you are guilty.” Joeseph Goebbels – Nazi Propaganda Minister

The Definition of Vengeance: punishment inflicted or retribution exacted for an injury or wrong.
synonyms: revenge, retribution, retaliation, payback, requital, reprisal, satisfaction, an eye for an eye (and a tooth for a tooth)

If you don’t support an MRO, you don’t represent the real brotherhood.
If all you wanna do is put on a patch so you can be cool, forget that shit.
You can’t buy the lifestyle, no patch on the planet can turn you into a biker and there’s more of us NOT wearing a 3 piece than do wear them.

What happened to yesterday morning’s highly unusual post by the fellow named Insideout ? Did anyone see that ? Yes Woofs, it’s a tough position to be the one who raises difficult and unpopular questions and points, but it can serve to keep things interesting and even “honest.”

I always heard that you could put a cocksucker in an Armani suit and all you got was A well-dressed cocksucker.
Using that as a guideline it would seem that an ass hole with an opinion would be just another mouthy asshole.

You have it wrong Woofy Boy, only your opinions seems to be met with scorn!
Most people here can state an opinion about a story without being a condescending asshole like you. IO gets ragged on here because they deserve it.

I may have opinions about one of Rebels stories here. But Club business and how or why they operate the way they do, I have no opinion! Even if I did, I wouldn’t answer to you.
Do you really add anything to the conversation?

Not so much around here. Pretty much any opinions contrary to the local main stream are met with “pigger” “troll” “asshole” etc.

So here’s Sartelle’s quote “We spent 50 years with our head in the sand. We stayed in the dark, looking like we did something wrong and we didn’t. It didn’t get us anywhere. I push transparency. Put everything on the table.”

Shovelhead, let’s get your opinion on that statement. Do you believe that position by the new Pres. will be convincing to the membership? To me he just criticized every prior national Pres, since the club was formed. Do you think the club only looked like they ever did something wrong but never really did anything wrong? What’s your opinion on transparency? Do you think everything will be put on the table?

I have respect for all 1%ers except the Buttdildos USA, I don’t know what happened to them. I used to go to their events and they were cordial and polite even though you knew not to fuck with them. Now their rude and snub everybody. They have an attitude like they’re club world gods. I’ve been around other 1%ers who are friendly and thank you for coming out to support them and I enjoy their events when I’m in their states but I’ll never attend another Buttdildo USA event. I’m actually glad Kinfolk is around. I’ve met a few and they seem solid. Some old faces too that I know to be righteous. I’m interested to see what the future holds.

Woof,
Do you talk to people like this to their face out on the street? Or just here?
You have a very wise ass, cocky way of talking to people online like you know it all and we’re all just stupid lowlifes.
What’s wrong with you? Were you picked on as a kid? Are you being picked on now?
Grown ups can state an opinion without being an asshole like you. I for one have had enough of your condescending attitude.
So, I have an idea Woof. Since you seem to think it’s Ok to talk the way you do. Film yourself in a Biker bar talking to some stranger, preferably a patch holder. Lets all see what happens next. Will you finally get the respect to so desire…or will you get knocked out?
Let us know……

Due to the numerous trolls encountered on this site, a number of us are posting in the closed group of Aging Rebellions over on FB. I don’t speak for the moderators of that group, but I think the regulars that post here would be welcome over there. We can get the news feed from here and discuss it over there.

Sieg Says:
January 1, 2017 at 1:56 pm
woofticket, shouldn’t you be posting on some pigger board instead of here?

Sieg, I understand that you are not inclined to question your idols, but Sartelle’s overly confident of his ability to be convincing. The organizational model fails time after time, but greed and stupidity continue to prevail over the slightest modicum of street smarts or common sense. Have another dose of Kool Aid, and step inline.

“…reading this article I found it interesting to read that the US Bandidos have only now decided to tackle the entire “public relations” thing themselves instead of having the public/media making up their own image of what a Bandido is or stands for.

Here in Europe, the red & gold have introduced a so-called “PR-Team” consisting of officers and experienced members who are skilled an oral and written expression and are sent to deal with any inquiries connected to the media / public affairs. Working in the field of PR myself, I find their “pre-emptive” approach very intelligent and judging from the various encounters I had with their PR-Team and its impact on German news coverage, success proves them right. If you MAKE and PARTICIPATE in a news story, you can CONTROL it – basically they are neutralizing the media with their own weapons.

Or as a club officer once put it: The foundations and values of the club are 50+ years old, but the club is constantly developing and evolving…”

I’d hazard a guess that this is the way the clubs will have to start fighting the news machine. Times change. Once flatheads, knucks and pans were the basis for most rides. Now I see evos and twinks on club runs. We change; we do evolve. And make it work.
Good post Sandmann. Respects.

Why don’t these so called men have any pride? When I completed boot camp I was proud that I earned the title Marine. When I got my patch it was also a really tough process. The pride I got when I earned it, I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I just can’t understand how these posers can look at themselves in the mirror and feel like they earned it. It’s the whole “Everybody gets a trophy mentality” that is causing this. This is just really fucking sad!!! Happy New Year to Rebel and all the real men out here The Aging Rebel. To the posers GO FUCK YOURSELF!

Nice piece of work Rebel as usual. It seems we now have 3 groups (i will not call them clubs) that are operating in similar fashion as Rebel states. The urine odor, cock sacks and now entering the dance, the skin-flutes. First for the urine odor, there is really nothing left to say about you pieces of shit. Did a real 1%er take your old lady or something you damn hall monitor? Second, to the cock sacks. You do realize all the lying and make believe singing “like children” you did is not going to play out well for you in the joint. It’s videoed and documented what you did to save your own ass after you started this shit storm for trying to be something you are not. Most cock sacks present that day in Waco will be going to the joint – everything is on you. Now, trying to lie and rat is going to make it a long hitch ladies… Get used to it. You followed fucked up leadership “BIG HO” and now the picture is clear as to your fate. Now third, for the skin flutes – are you fucking serious? REALLY LOL? You take out bad ex-members from other clubs, “give each other a real second chance” and put a 1% diamond on them and call yourself a club? Out bad means you’re either a Liar, Rat (cock sacks), Thief or Child Molester (cock sacks) and you want to put scum like this into a new club? How do the minutes from your first national meeting hit the streets you genius’s? You must be either cops or idiots, I say your both. Mrs. price, AKA “Know more than you” have you ever heard the term STFU? You should probably adhere to that going forward. Also, mentioning other real club’s names is not going to work out well for you either. Do you wear your patch when commenting here or are you too “uncomfortable” madam? You three clubs want so bad to be something you are not and you can’t stand it. It must be hard to look at yourself in the mirror every day and know you’re a fucktard.

My neighbor who is a big shot with the DOJ terrorism unit (head of the SW US) disagrees with that WPD are innocent. He personally disabused me of this notion right after the Waco “incident.” He changed my mind, and early on has appeared psychologically geared up to defend the bikers.

He changed my mind immediately. And he NEVER shares about his job, for 25 years.